MinxterBLOOM

(Another Library of Congress find. Mea culpa, if you prefer another sort of winter gardening post.  The year to date is wet with chilly rain, in the Metro DC area. I do not want to go outside and find something blog-worthy.)

I found a reference to this seed company at the University of Delaware special collections on seed companies. Rochester, home of a lilac festival rivaled by none, was a hotbed of horticultural publishing activity in the late 1800s.

Lewis Chase founded the seed company in Maine, moving to Rochester, NY, by 1868.  Fast forward to the 50s: According to John Sheret the Chase Brothers garden store -- what remained of the seed concern -- ceased operations in 1956 when Bilt-Rite Wood Products bought one of the storefronts owned by the Chase family. 

Later in the mid 1970s, Wegmans Food Markets opened its first Home Repair Center next to its supermarket on Lyell Avenue in Rochester; Wegman's expanded this store into a small chain, naming the stores Chase-Pitkin Home and Garden. For more detail on the rise, middle-years, and decline of this seed company, see the full article at Crooked Lake Review.

In 2005, Wegmans announced that Chase-Pitkin centers would be closed, due to the inability of the home-styled chain to compete with the big box retailers.  

RIP, Chase. 

Read more on great seedsman (two women, too) at the Smithsonian Library horticultural-biography resource here.

.

TITLE:  Chase Bro's and Woodward. Flower & vegetable seeds

CALL NUMBER:  PGA - Clay, Cosack & Co.--Chase Bro's... (D size) [P&P]

REPRODUCTION NUMBER:  LC-DIG-pga-00507 (digital file from original print)
LC-USZ62-86209 (b&w film copy neg.)

RIGHTS INFORMATION:  No known restrictions on publication.

MEDIUM:  1 print.

CREATED/PUBLISHED:  [no date recorded on shelflist card]

NOTES: This record contains unverified data from PGA shelflist card. Associated name on shelflist card: Clay, Cosack & Co.

REPOSITORY:  Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA 

DIGITAL ID:  (digital file from original print) pga 00507 http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pga.00507 
(b&w film copy neg.) cph 3b32718 http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3b32718 

CONTROL #:  2003674673

Enjoy this charming print from the Library of Congress digital collections.

Last winter, in the doldrums of gardening withdrawal, I stumbled upon this print mislabeled as a wisteria bloom.  I alerted a collections librarian who was gracious and happy.  The revision took about a year.  What might you find in this rich online collection?

TITLE: Ajisai ni shokin
TITLE TRANSLATION: Small bird and hydrangea.
CALL NUMBER: FP 2 - JPD, no. 432 (A size) [P&P]

Restricted access; material extremely fragile; please use online digital image.
REPRODUCTION NUMBER: LC-DIG-jpd-00455 (digital file from original print)
RIGHTS INFORMATION: No known restrictions on publication.
SUMMARY: Print shows a small bird perched on a branch of hydrangea.
MEDIUM: 1 print : woodcut, color ; 19.3 × 9.2 cm.
CREATED/PUBLISHED: [between 1860 and 1910]
NOTES: Title and other descriptive information compiled by Nichibunken-sponsored Edo print specialists in 2005-06.

Format: Kogata Nishikie. Forms part of: Japanese prints and drawings (Library of Congress).

SUBJECTS: Flowers--Japan--1860-1910. Birds ÏzJapan Ïy1860-1910. Ï2lctgm

FORMAT: Woodcuts Japanese Color 1860-1910.

REPOSITORY: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA
DIGITAL ID: (digital file from original print) jpd 00455 http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/jpd.00455
CONTROL #: jpd2005000432

 I think often about a stock tank of fish in the side patio.  I worry about raccoons, mostly, and icing over, somewhat.  Winter time puts a great deal of gardening effort in stark relief.  I love my real dirt garden but I also love, perhaps more, the garden of my dreams.  Pardon me:  I should say gardens of my dream.

Note:  This is a google gadget.  You can click on the gadget to secure the code or explore others.  I find that most are a quick trip to install. However, with some browers, you may not be able to customize the background picture. Gadgets are not made by google, officially, but are crafted by energetic code monkey types.  ABowman made this fishey one.  I also like his spider ap and the hungry turtle ap.

Here is an experiment with music.  Playlist allows you to create a widget of favorite songs.  The songs are housed somehow in cyberspace, so that you do not run a foul of downloading music problems.  I give you Johnny Cash's "Rose of my Heart."  Why?  Because my first garden was that of my father in Montana.  Country music and harsh winds shaped life and leaves there.  Click on the bar to hear him sing.  Go to Playlist to build your own soundtrack to garden by. I am building one based on garden themes to share. In winter, we read seed catalogs and imagine spring.  We can listen to flower songs, also.

continued.  This sequence or this sequence multiplied by two (making the Lucas series) fits with the petal organization of most flowers. 

0 1 1 2 3 5 8 13 21 34 55 89 144 233 377 610..................For more on fibonacci numbers and flowers see Ivar Peterson's fabulous site.

I would like to grow "Strawberry Blonde" next summer, to enjoy but also to count the petals.

 (Available from Johnny's Seeds)

“Bring me the sunflower crazed with the love of light.”

                                - Eugenio Montale

Other petal  investigations?  Look at this table.